Athens, GA Weather for Monday-Tuesday, August 14-15, 2017

Convection will be widespread across the region tomorrow, leading to likely showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon hours. Image Credit: WxBell

Afternoon Showers/Thunderstorms

High: 91°F

Low: 73°F

A stationary front will keep us in a chance for afternoon showers and thunderstorms to start off the week. Image Credit: WPC NOAA

What an average meteorological day we had in North Georgia today. Athens hit a low of 72°F and a high of 91°F, which is 2°F and 1°F above normal for this time of year, respectively. The only thing missing: the afternoon showers and thunderstorms we’re used to seeing in mid-August. Luckily those were contained to Middle and South Georgia. However, change is on the way for the short term and week ahead. What weather returns, and you can read the details below.

Quick Forecast

Monday: Partly cloudy skies with afternoon showers/thunderstorms likely. Light southerly winds with a high near 91°F.

Tonight’s Forecast:

An isolated thunderstorm is possible in the area during the overnight hours. Image Credit: WxBell

A shortwave will push through the area this evening. While most of the air shouldn’t be too unstable, the atmosphere is pretty wide in range, leaving a few pockets of instability to be tapped into for the chance of an overnight and isolated storm. While the chance is low for any one place in particular, the storm that develops could be strong, bringing about heavy rains, frequent lightning, and localized flooding. Otherwise, overnight lows will be a little on the warm side due to the cloud cover, keeping low temperatures in the low to mid 70s.

Overnight lows this evening. Image Credit: WxBell

Monday’s Forecast:

Convection will be widespread across the region tomorrow, leading to likely showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon hours. Image Credit: WxBell

Tomorrow will be the start of a wet period ahead for North Georgia as another tropical surge in moisture moves north from the Gulf of Mexico. With all the moisture and temperatures in the low 90s, it won’t take a whole lot to lift the humid air up to condense into the droplets heavy enough to fall back to the surface. Likely chances for rain will be in the form of thunderstorms in the afternoon hours. Storms that do form should expect to drop anywhere from 0.10-0.25 inches of rain over a short period of time, so localized flash flooding is a possibility. Be sure to drive carefully on the roads.

Afternoon high temperatures tomorrow. Image Credit: WxBell

Tuesday’s Forecast:

Late evening showers and thunderstorms are on tap for Tuesday. Image Credit: WxBell

Tuesday will continue our trend of high moisture and temperatures around 90°F. We’ll start the day off in the low to mid 70s thanks to persistent cloud cover, but as the day warms up, we’ll see increased chances for afternoon showers and thunderstorms. Like Monday, the moisture content in the atmosphere is high, so localized flooding can occur over a short period of time. Stay dry!

Sneak Peek of the Week:

With the wet weather high temperatures look to be down a couple degrees from normal and low temperatures look to be up a couple of degrees. Image Credit: WxBell

There’s not a lot of change as we push further into the week. A few shortwave patterns will continue to ride in over the ridge pattern, giving us plenty of cloud cover for the afternoons and evenings, keeping the high temperatures lower and low temperatures higher by a few degrees. Let’s hope the atmosphere cooperates with us next Monday for the total solar eclipse. Otherwise there might be some sad enthusiasts…and one sad Master’s student hoping to capture some atmospheric data.

Friday: Wakeup temperatures in the low to mid 70s. Afternoon showers and thunderstorms possible. Highs around the low 90s.

Weather Video of the Day:

The Perseid Meteor shower has been visible for places that haven’t seen the immense cloud cover lately. While it peeks this evening, mostly cloudy skies will inhibit any attempt to really see it here in Georgia. However, folks in Illinois have you covered. Check out the video below.

Michael is a graduate of the University of Georgia's Atmospheric Sciences program, obtaining a Bachelor of Science degree in Geography with a certificate in Atmospheric Sciences in the spring of 2016. He served as the former President of the University of Georgia's local chapter of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) during the 2014-2015 year and is currently an active member of the national American Meteorological Society. Michael participated in a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded research program at the Pennsylvania State University. There, he used the numerical weather prediction model, Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF), to research chemical dispersion in the boundary layer. He is currently pursuing a Master of Science degree at the University of South Carolina under the supervision of Dr. April L. Hiscox. His research will focus on boundary layer meteorology and modeling atmospheric dispersion. Although Michael appreciates all kinds of weather, he holds a certain fascination with convective storms and numerical weather prediction.